Wednesday, June 12, 2013

NICE road run

Week 19 - updateI have shared my workout schedule for the last week and I'm sure you would agree with me that it was an exciting week,

3-Jun Monday - RestSunday - 10 kms easy with my son Aditya

Saturday was one of the most exciting days for me. I had been thinking about a place for me to go for the longer weekend runs. The week before, I ran 24 kms (read it as crazy 24 kms) within the apartment and took 30+ rounds to complete the 24k. I really wanted to avoid running in the Yelahanka roads (even though I love that) and competing with dogs (being chased ha ha…:)) during the cold June morning and decided to run inside the complex. It was a terrible mistake and I din’t want to repeat that. This week I was mentally prepared to go to the NICE road... I got up at 4.15 am, packed my running gear drove 15 kms to reach Jalahalli. I parked my Honda in a safe place and with adequate fuel (3 GU gels + Water) (on my Camelback) I hit the road at 5.30 am. It was a nice chilly morning and I ran about 4 kms in the Tumkur road and about 9 (one way) in the NICE road. I felt like the entire road belonged to me and I kept wondering why no one else would prefer running there.

NICE road is a 6 way express highway (no dogs…since they have to pay toll ) and there are many heavy duty vehicles moving at different speeds. It’s common to notice two trucks doing the “Twenty Twentyone” (hey…my new theory)…. It’s easy to understand. Let me explain. Let’s say a large container is moving at 20 kmph…at the same time there is another similar one trying to overtake the first one in 21 kmph . By the time the second guy decides…changes gear…krrrrrrrrrr….prepares to overtake…moves to the right…goes parallel….pushes harder and harder….ooo…ooon….ooon….to overtake the other guy….finally overtakes…oh no….now they guy on the left has decided to go at 22…and he has decided to overtake the second one….confusing??? Wow!! you can imagine the time taken for one of the trucks to get past the other one…. Many fast moving cars with impatient drivers, have no choice but to overtake these two “pain in the expressway” in the shoulder of the road. Very scary….Twice I was surprised by crazy speeding cars right in front of me….they suddenly appear from nowhere …may be at 130+ kmph… and I have had nearly split seconds to jump to the grass land to my right. Anyways I really enjoyed the morning, it was fun running there……at the 13th kms mark a Police Patrol jeep stopped by and a cop stuck his head out. He was very polite and after a ‘hello’ he said in a soft Kannada…‘Sir, do you know that this is not a safe place to run!!! there are many speeding vehicles and you could easily be run over by one…also there are incidents of people being mugged, from tomorrow onwards don’t come here…” oh! there ended my desire to run there every weekend..… I even had plans to go up to Electronic City on the NICE road and come back one day. Anyways…he had a point (oops a couple of them). I thanked him for his advice and assured him not to come there alone. At the end of my run, when I stopped my Runkeeper I realized that I had actually run 25 kms instead of my 24 (as per plan)….and also finished it in a record PB of 2:18:10. My last 25 km was finished in 2:30:27 at the Bangalore ULTRA with lots of huffs and puffs. This run was great because when I stopped, I really had a lot of energy left and drive to run another 10 kms. It also had boosted my confident to finish my Hyderabad Full Marathon (also first day time Full Marathon) in sub 4:30 (I’m sure it will be better than this). After a quick 10 mins stretch, I drove back home and joined the club activities at 8.30 am.After a quick 10 mins stretch, I drove back home and joined the club activities at 8.30 am.

Sunday was fabulous since Aditya and I decided to go for a 10 KM run in the evening.

Please join me in welcoming Ashutosh, Preeti and Aarohi (apologies if I had misspelt the names), the very new members to our club. The entire family was charged with a lot of enthusiasm and energy and they did all the workouts pretty good. I would like to wish the entire family a good luck for their endeavor towards a healthier lifestyle.

I was also very glad that all the kids did pretty well on both the days …they are stronger these days and not so easy to find sweat on their forehead even after 30 mins…their battery levels are still at 80%...that’s a remarkable sign of their strength and energy at this very young age. Very healthy and strong too..….Aarohi just started on Sunday joined by Sunny, Nikhil, Aditya, Shreya, Soumya, Samatv and not to miss…the smallest Chilli. I would like to thank the parents for staying behind these kids and showing them that they have healthier choices to make in their life.

I've also come across the link (shared here...) don't miss them if you are a regular runner. They are not just for new runners...even I love doing them.I was also very glad that all the kids did pretty well on both the days …they are stronger these days and not so easy to find sweat on their forehead even after 30 mins…their battery levels are still at 80%...that’s a remarkable sign of their strength and energy at this very young age. Very healthy and strong too..….Aarohi just started on Sunday joined by Sunny, Nikhil, Aditya, Shreya, Soumya, Samatv and not to miss…the smallest Chilli. I would like to thank the parents for staying behind these kids and showing them that they have healthier choices to make in their life.Tuesday – Whole body strength workout